Hi All:
Following our announcement of an I-D for the "info" URI scheme (-00) last
September [1], and subsequent announcement of a revised I-D (-01) last
December [2], we would like to notify this list of a further revision (-02)
to the I-D which is now available on the I-D directory [3]. (This
announcement is being posted out separately to the
<mailto:uri-review@ietf.org> and <mailto:uri@w3.org> mailing lists for
completeness of coverage.) The revision reflects feedback received on the
"info" URI scheme as a facilitator for referencing information assets from
public namespaces. The following changes have been applied:
a) We have removed the no-dereference claims for "info" and instead
added an extra field into the "info" registration record that namespace
authorities may use to reference any service mechanisms available for a
given "info" namespace. Registration of such service mechanisms is
encouraged. Note that "info" namespaces may not be bound exclusively to any
given network protocol and that multiple service mechanisms may exist for
identifiers from any particular "info" namespace.
b) We modify the notion that "info" supports "hierarchy" to the more
modest proposal that "info" supports "hierarchical processing" as per sect
1.2.3 of the current draft for 2396bis [4].
c) We add a statement to the normalization section and a comment to
the ABNF to the effect that "info" URIs that contain dot-segments may not be
suitable for use with applications that support dot-segment normalization.
We invite comment as to whether this is a sufficient caution or whether
"info" URIs must categorically exclude dot-segments. The combination of
6.2.2.3 and 2.3 in 2396bis [4] would suggest that dot-segments cannot be
%-escaped as period "." chars should not be %-escaped and %-escaping
normalization _precedes_ dot-segment normalization per the normalization
ladder in [4]. Is that a correct analysis?
d) The ABNF is modified to reflect the latest version of 2396bis [4]
and does not imply any real "hierarchy" per se, although it does admit of
"hierarchical processing".
e) Sundry minor changes include author affiliations, ordering of
terminology section, rewording to reflect changes consequent upon a)-d),
modifications to some examples as per what is _actually_ being identified
(e.g. in some cases it is a metadata record about a work, not the work
itself).
The "info" Registry is located at [5] and is already subscribed to by a
number of known organizations including Library of Congress, National
Library of Medicine (NCBI), NASA, OCLC, ANSI/NISO, and the Fedora Project.
The National Library of Australia has also recently applied for an "info"
namespace.
The FAQ on the "info" website reflects the -01 revision and is in process of
being updated to reflect the new -02 revision. Also an archive of the "info"
I-Ds and their source documents is being maintained at [6].
We have informed the Applications Area Director of the publication of this
revised I-D (-02) on the I-D directory [3] and we request that he submit it
to the IESG for approval to publish as an informational RFC. We would like
to be advised of any procedural step that we may have missed in order to
expedite this process.
Cheers,
Tony
Tony Hammond
New Technology, Nature Publishing Group
4 Crinan Street, London N1 9XW, UK
tel:+44-20-7843-4659
mailto:t.hammond@nature.com
[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/uri/2003Sep/0100.html
[2] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/uri/2003Dec/0002.html
[3] http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-vandesompel-info-uri-02.txt
[4] http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-fielding-uri-rfc2396bis-05.txt
[5] http://info-uri.info/
[6] http://info-uri.info/registry/drafts.html
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